Marketing & Communications

Dean: Jerry Stinner
(818) 677-2204
jerry. stinner@ csun.edu

Asst. Director of Development: John Pepitone
(818) 677-6699
john.pepitone@csun.edu

http://www.csun.edu/csm/

• A team of faculty led by biology professor MariaElena Zavala received a $7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health for research that could impact the public's health. The four-year grant will fund research in such areas as dementia, aging and women, race relations, genetic regulation in certain bacteria, genetic evolution in certain plants, the migration of embryonic cells, cell to cell interaction in cancer, vascular systems, drug delivery in the body, the role of genetics in certain diseases, and streamlining the manufacturing of drugs.
• Physics professors Nicholas Kioussis, Gang Lu and Donna Sheng and a colleague from Princeton have been awarded a $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) that encourages Northridge undergraduates to perform cutting-edge research in the area of nanotechnology. Earlier in the year, Kioussis, along with three colleagues from UCLA was awarded a $1.3 million grant from NSF as part of an interdisciplinary research team that is studying nanoscale technology
• Biology professor Steven Oppenheimer was recently awarded a four-year grant totaling over $400,000 by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences for his project "Mechanisms of Adhesive Interactions." His research will focus on improper cell adhesion as a catalyst for the spread of cancer.
• The Minority Biomedical Research Support program has received two grants totaling more than $6 million from the National Institutes of Health to develop biomedical research and enhance research educational opportunities for students.
• A $1.2 million grant from NASA is helping prepare undergraduates for graduate school and careers in math, science and engineering.
• Biology professors Robert Carpenter and Peter Edmunds are the recipients, along with two faculty at UC Santa Barbara, of a $4.6 million NSF grant to establish the first coral reef research site in Moorea, French Polynesia.
• A $310,000 NSF grant provided funds for a state-of-the-art Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope, which will be shared by the Geology and Physics and Astronomy Departments for multidisciplinary research.
• Professors Gerald Simila of Geological Sciences and Carol Shubin of Mathematics both won prestigious Fulbright awards. Simila will study earthquakes in Costa Rica, and Shubin will teach and help develop curriculum in Kigali, Rwanada.
• A nearly 53,000 square-foot science building is set for completion in January 2009. The $46 million-plus facility will provide a modern new home for interdisciplinary scholarship as well as room for hundreds of new students.
• According to National Science Foundation data, Cal State Northridge ranks among the top universities in the nation in preparing students who go on to earn doctoral degrees in a variety of research fields, especially the sciences.